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Bernie Sanders Announces 2020 Presidential Candidacy; Analysts Examine Prospects for Bernie Sanders Presidential Run; Interview with Independent Senator Angus King of Maine. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired February 19, 2019 - 8:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:00:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Big breaking news in the 2020 race for president. A new candidate in the race. So let's get right to it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

BERMAN: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, February 19th. It is 8:00 in the east. And we do begin with breaking news. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders announced he is running for president, his second campaign. Sanders released this campaign video just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (D) PRESIDENT CANDIDATE: Hi. I'm Bernie Sanders. I'm running for president. And I'm asking you today to be part of an unprecedented grassroots campaign of one million active volunteers in every state in our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Senator Sanders, of course, was the runner-up to Hillary Clinton four years ago. And he wasted no time going after President Trump in a new interview this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: It is absolutely imperative that Donald Trump be defeated, because I think it is unacceptable and un-American, to be frank with you, that we have a president who is a pathological liar. And it gives me no pleasure to say that, but it's true. We have a president who is a racist, who is a sexist, who is a xenophobe, who is doing what no president in our lifetimes has come close to doing, and that is trying to divide us up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: You'll remember of course Bernie Sanders was the runner-up for the 2016 Democratic nomination. He joins an already crowded field of at least 10 Democratic candidates. Sanders lost a hard fought battle to Hillary Clinton, but he won more than 20 states in the process, shaking up the Democratic Party.

CNN's Ryan Nobles is live in Washington with all of the breaking details. Ryan?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, good morning. And of course, Bernie Sanders' entry into the 2020 race likely doesn't come as that big a surprise to most Americans. But there was a pretty intense deliberation among Sanders and his supporters as to whether or not he should run this time around. Sanders making it official with an e- mail blast to his vast network of supporters this morning, including that video that you showed explaining his decision to run and how he expects to win this time around.

The situation for Sanders, of course, much different in 2020 than it was in 2016. He surprised many people four years ago by tapping into a disgruntled Democratic base and waking up a powerful progressive movement which in many ways moved the entire Democratic Party left. Many of these issues that Sanders championed four years ago were thought to be radical. On CBS this morning, Sanders making sure to remind voters that while many of these issues that he first pushed four years ago are now the mainstream, he was the one who led the charge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (D) PRESIDENT CANDIDATE: You will recall, you may recall that in 2016 many of the ideas that I talked about -- Medicare for all, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, making public colleges and universities tuition-free, all of those ideas, people said, oh, Bernie, they're so radical. They are extreme. The American people just won't accept those ideas. You know what's happen over three years, all of those ideas and many more are now part of the political mainstream.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: Still with several other candidates joining him now in that progressive lane, Sanders is going to have to run a much different campaign this time around. And he will have to do much better with women and African-American voters. And already his message has been targeted toward those two groups, attempting to make the case that his message of fixing economic inequality would benefit both of those groups in particular.

Sanders must also contend with accusations of sexual harassment in his 2016 campaign. He's already apologized and met with some of the accusers and has promised things will be different this time. One distinct advantage that Sanders will have is that he has already built a vast network of small dollar online donors who flooded his campaign with cash four years ago. Sanders never really turned that spigot off, and it will likely be a big advantage for him in an era where many Democratic candidates have said they're not going to take corporate donations or support from super PACs.

Sanders enters the campaign consistently polling in the top five of the Democratic field. He's of course one of the most recognizable politicians in America. But the question is, can he leverage that recognition into results? Republicans already seizing on Sanders pushing the Democratic Party left. A spokesman for the RNC saying this morning the vast majority of voters oppose his radical agenda just like they're going to oppose all the 2020 Democrats who have rushed to embrace it. John and Alisyn?

BERMAN: Ryan, stand by, if you will, for a moment. Joining us also, Jeff Zeleny, CNN senior Washington correspondent in his Manchester, New Hampshire, gear, Chris Cillizza joins us as well, politics reporter and editor at large, and Nia-Malika Henderson, CNN senior political reporter. Nia, I want to start with you, because that interview that Ryan just played a clip from is a double-edged sword. Bernie Sanders is bragging about the fact that he moved the Democratic Party on major issues like Medicare for all, making public colleges affordable and free in some cases. And he's right. But the flip side of that is if they all agree with him, why do they need him at this point?

[08:05:10] NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: I think that's exactly right. As I was watching that, I was like, well, if you have already won the party and won the issues, why are you running again? And you're going to be competing against these folks who he has moved to the left on any number of issues, Medicare for all, college.

You do see some people in the party, we saw last night in the town hall with Amy Klobuchar, I think she did an amazing job in that town hall, and one of the things she is doing is saying she's not Bernie Sanders essentially when she talked about paying for college, for instance. And Kamala Harris doing the same thing, saying she's not a Democratic Socialist. They very well know the tag that Democrats are too far left, that they are flirting with socialism, is something that Republicans are going to use. And we have obviously seen them do it with Obama to less effect back years ago. You saw the president in his State of the Union address basically shout out socialism and say the American folks are going to battle socialism as if it's a real argument.

But you're right, I think Bernie Sanders has got to figure out what his lane is. In talking to people who worked for his campaign last go around, they still talk about his campaign as a movement. They feel like they can pick up the movement. But you also find that a lot of folks who were backing his campaign in 2016 aren't necessarily going to back it going forward. And they have got all of these other choices, people who are younger, people who can maybe put together more of a multiracial coalition than Bernie Sanders was able to back in 2016.

CAMEROTA: A couple of things, Chris Cillizza. First of all, it sounds like he wants credit for building this lane, and who can blame him? He is saying I started this political revolution. I'm the person who started talking about raising the minimum wage. I'm the person who started talking about free public college. So, remember, it's me. And we also heard from M.J. Lee last time that people, anecdotally, people on the trail were looking for their new Bernie Sanders. Well, now they have vintage Bernie Sanders. Maybe they need to look nowhere else.

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, look, he was the O.G. as it relates to Medicare for all, free college. Everything that Nia said, those ideas were considered radical when he started running. I always remind people in the 2016 in debates with Hillary Clinton, she laughed off the idea of Medicare for all. It won't work. It will undermine Obamacare. Now you have Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, all behind this idea.

I think the biggest problem for Bernie Sanders is he was the only viable alternative to Hillary Clinton. And even then, he had to really fight to be a viable alternative. But there were really only two candidates in the race with apologies to Martin O'Malley. So there's going to -- there are already 10, there's going to be a lot more. The issue is, do you want Bernie Sanders or do you want what Bernie Sanders represented maybe in the form of Beto O'Rourke or Kamala Harris or Kirsten Gillibrand? And I think there's going to be a lot of alternatives on that very liberal left that he will struggle with. He is not an underdog at this point. He is a top tier candidate. It's a radically different race and different position than he was in 2016.

BERMAN: The polling has him right now at number two behind Joe Biden. You could chop that up in both of their cases to name recognition. It could also be the holdover, the passions that existed the last time around for Bernie Sanders in that race.

Jeff Zeleny, we have made you stand out in the cold longer than anybody out there. But we were hearing from M.J. Lee before that there are voters in Iowa and New Hampshire who are sampling, as they do. It's the tradition in these states. In New Hampshire where Bernie Sanders beat Hillary Clinton by a lot, there are a lot of Bernie Sanders voters now who are going to a lot of different events and listening to the other candidates.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: No question. And that's how this works. The one challenge for Bernie Sanders is, yes, he has true believers. I suspect he will always have his true believers. But the reality is the people who are looking for an alternative now have so many options.

So I think the question for Bernie Sanders is does he have a second act? Is he able to convince some of his old supporters to stay in but also show that he can evolve.

One advantage he has, I would point out, he has run before. That is a huge advantage for a presidential candidate who has been through the wringer and been through all of this before. But of course, this will be so much different for him. So I am looking to see how he is able to expand his argument. Is he going to define himself against these individual Democratic candidates? It's a sense of ego here as well for Bernie Sanders. He liked what he did four years ago. He had a strong showing four years ago particularly here.

[08:10:00] But it depends. He's also seen by some Democrats as a spoiler. If you talk to Democrats in Michigan, in Wisconsin, places he won that Hillary Clinton ended up losing, he is seen by some as someone who essentially had a spoiling effect. So we'll see what his next act is here. But I would not write Bernie Sanders out of the conversation at all. It's just certainly much more difficult for him. But it's also a challenge for the others trying to soak up some piece of his support as well.

CAMEROTA: It sounds like Bernie Sanders is saying I don't need a second act. I still have the old act. The old act is still working. Everybody is imitating my old act. Ryan, what's happening with claims of sexual harassment in his campaign last time around? Have all those sort of been put to rest and amended for?

NOBLES: I don't think that we can say that quite yet, Alisyn, but I do think that those people who considered themselves to be victims of those particular claims do feel as though Bernie Sanders himself and the campaign at large have taken positive steps to making sure that this doesn't happen again.

But you know what's interesting, and quite a few people have pointed to this loyal base of support for Bernie Sanders, that extends to even those who felt that they were victims of sexual harassment during this campaign. I talked to several people who said that they were victims of sexual harassment, but they still believe in Bernie Sanders the man, they still believe in his mission. And they want to give him the opportunity to fix this problem going forward.

But of course, in a very crowded Democratic field, when you talk to rank and file Democrats who are essentially looking for the best candidate, if you've got several other candidates that are essentially espousing the same things that Bernie Sanders are but then they don't also have this companion problem of a sexual harassment allegation hanging over the top of their campaign, then maybe that's something that could easily set Bernie Sanders aside.

One thing I'd point out though about these sexual harassment claims is that you don't see a lot of criticism from the Democratic opponents of Bernie Sanders, at least not yet. And that's because there is a sense that this is something that happens in a lot of campaigns. And if you start to really probe into what happened in Bernie Sanders' campaign, are all campaigns going to be subject to that as well. So this is definitely something that he's address and is focused on. I think we'll have to see how it plays out in the coming days and weeks.

CILLIZZA: Can I just very quickly add to Ryan's point. I do think one other thing to remember about Bernie Sanders is he is a 77-year- old white male running in a party that in 2018 showed it is more diverse than ever. Women both as candidates and as powerful voters, African-American, Hispanic, Native American, younger candidates. So this is in some ways the same problem Joe Biden will have. Does a party that is increasingly diversifying across race, certainly getting younger, is this the person you want to nominate to front a party to face a septuagenarian president of the United States who is also a white male? Is that the contrast? That was an issue in 2016, obviously, because Democrats, we didn't know who the Republican nominee would be. It will be an issue now because we know Donald Trump is waiting at the end of that tunnel.

BERMAN: All right, friends, thank you very, very much for that. Bernie Sanders now in the race, a field that is getting bigger with more familiar names. Obviously we are still waiting on some others including the former vice president Joe Biden.

CAMEROTA: Maybe that will happen in the next 45 minutes.

BERMAN: Breaking news in the Russia investigation. Fired FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe now says he told top congressional leaders that the bureau was investigating President Trump. We're going to get reaction from a senator who is on the Intelligence Committee. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:17:27] BERMAN: Breaking news: fired FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe with a new revelation from his tell-all book. McCabe now says that he informed top leaders in Congress known as the Gang of Eight that he ordered the FBI to launch a counter-intelligence probe on President Trump in May of 2017. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER FBI ACTING DIRECTOR: The purpose of the briefing was to let our congressional leadership know exactly what we had been doing. Opening a case of this nature is not something an FBI director, an acting FBI director would do by yourself, right? This was a recommendation that came to me from my team. I reviewed it with our lawyers, I discussed it at least --

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: Did you tell Congress?

MCCABE: And I told Congress what we had done.

GUTHRIE: Did anyone object?

MCCABE: That's the important part here, Savannah. No one objected. Not on legal grounds, not constitutional grounds, and not based on the facts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Joining us now is independent Senator Angus King. He is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Senator, thank you so much for being with us.

We are just hearing that for the first time. Andy McCabe said he told the Gang of Eight, which includes the chair and ranking member of your committee that he was opening a counter-intelligence investigation, the FBI was on the president. No one objected.

What does that tell you that the members of Congress did not object?

SEN. ANGUS KING (I), MAINE: Well, first, John, I want to give you some breaking news. I have decided to announce on your program this morning that I am not running for president.

BERMAN: You're the first.

KING: There's got to be a first somewhere, at least in the U.S. Senate.

A serious question and I think an important point that Andrew McCabe did brief what's called the Gang of Eight, which is the leaders on both sides of the intelligence committees and the leaders of the House and Senate. Obviously, they're going to be able to respond and say, yes, the briefing took place, no, it didn't, or I objected or, no, I didn't. But I think that's an important part of the story.

The FBI had reason to believe there was something to investigate. They didn't reach conclusions. But that's their job is to protect the country from threats, particularly counterespionage threats. And the fact that Congress was briefed I think is an important part of the story and it indicates that they weren't trying to do something sub rosa, or behind anybody's back or a secret coup.

And we'll see as the story plays out and I'm sure you'll have interviews with Mitch McConnell, or Paul Ryan, or Richard Burr, the various people who, according to Andrew McCabe, were in that briefing.

BERMAN: So, you used the word coup right now, which obviously a word that some of the president's allies are using.

[08:20:01] The president himself used the word treason for the actions of Andrew McCabe opening up the counter-intelligence investigation.

Is that how you see it?

KING: No, sir. That's a misuse of that term. The president is confusing himself with the United States of America. It was French kings who said, I am the state.

In our system, that's not true. When you join an administration, you take an oath to uphold the Constitution. You don't take an oath to support any particular president or majority leader or anything else.

So, no, that's an inappropriate use of that term. Andrew McCabe apparently -- and I don't know all the facts. I only know what I have heard in the last few days, felt that the team, the people on the FBI felt there was a threat to national security. They had an obligation to investigate it and they notified Congress that investigation was ongoing.

BERMAN: The mere fact that they thought there was a threat to national security, I think we lose sight of how remarkable that is sometimes.

KING: Well, it is. That's an extraordinary and I think they felt at the time it was extraordinary. He said in the little clip that nothing like this has ever happened. But they were just looking at the terms of the firing of Jim Comey, what the president said afterwards. And they had questions they felt need to be answered.

BERMAN: Another development over the last 24 hours, Chris Ruddy, who is a friend of President Trump's, he runs Newsmax, the conservative website magazine. Chris Ruddy says that the president is considering firing the director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, and the reason Ruddy says is that Coats went before your committee testifying about threats around the world and answered questions. He said he didn't think that Kim Jong-un would give up his pursuit of nuclear weapons, whatever deal President Trump works out with him. And apparently, that upset the president.

Is providing answers to the Senate, is that grounds to you for losing your job?

KING: No. It's bad news on a whole series of levels.

One is Dan Coats is an honest, upright, thoughtful guy. He's a thorough-going Republican, by the way. And he enunciated his obligations clearly in the hearing. He said, my job, the job of the intelligence community is to seek the truth and speak the truth.

He had to appear, we have that hearing every year. It's called Worldwide Threats. It's an annual hearing. The director of the national intelligence, the head of the other agencies come in and they give us the best data they have about what's going on in the world.

The important thing here, John, is the message that sends if, in fact, Dan Coats is pushed out which I hope isn't the case, because he's a great public servant. If he is, the message is, don't give me the facts. Don't give the people the facts. That's what the intelligence community is all about.

When they start cooking the data to suit the policy preferences of the president or the Congress or the secretary of state or anybody else, that's when we get into trouble. That's Vietnam, that's Iraq. That's how we make big policy mistakes is when we start getting -- pushing to have the data.

What's the message if Dan Coats is pushed out? The message to the intelligence community is shade the data, cook it, slant it, don't tell the man what he doesn't want to hear. That's disastrous for the country.

BERMAN: Let me ask you. The chairman of your committee, Richard Burr, said he's seen no direct evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. You sit on the committee. You have seen almost the same evidence the chairman has. Do you agree with his assessment?

KING: I think you have to parse his words carefully. The key word he used is direct. I think if you are looking for a smoking gun, I think that's true. But I think there is a great deal of circumstantial evidence.

Also, we're not finished yet. There are important people we have to talk to, that we have to get information from who have a central role in this. So, I'm not ready to reach that conclusion.

I think people heard what Richard Burr said and took it as a kind of blanket exoneration. I don't think that's accurate. If you are talking about a smoking gun, no, but rarely in any legal matter is there a smoking gun. BERMAN: Very quickly, you announced you are not running for president

of the United States. We were not expecting you to make an announcement, though, you never know. Your independent senator colleague, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, just announced about two hours ago that he is running for president.

What do you think of that?

KING: Well, you know, I think the more voices, the better. One of the things you have to observe, and I sit next to two presidential candidates. I sit near Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren. Bernie sits a few seats away from me.

I think the important thing is there is a series of very credible candidates, people who have a lot of good thinking.

[08:25:02] People that I've worked with for years. Amy Klobuchar announced last week.

So, I think the important thing is the American people and the Democratic Party are going to have real choices. I don't think that's anything but good for democracy.

BERMAN: Senator Angus King from Maine, thank you very much for being with us this morning. Appreciate it.

KING: Thank you.

BERMAN: Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: All right, John.

Last month, she took a break from Twitter after saying she was harassed online. Today she's back with an apology and a new viewpoint. Why CNN contributor Kirsten Powers says she is not proud today. We're going to have a great talk with her, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: All right. After taking a hiatus from Twitter, CNN contributor and "USA Today" columnist Kirsten Powers returned to apologize for what she says were judgmental and condemning tweets about the incident involving those Covington high school students, a native American elder and a group lf black Israelites last month.

She writes, I spent the last few weeks in a mostly Twitter-free zone to reflect on the role I may have played in what has become a dangerously toxic culture. I'm not proud of what I have found.

Kirsten Powers joins us now.

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.